Poppies in Kosovo, gerbera daisies in Basra

doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7409.297

BMJ 2003;327:297 (2 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7409.297

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PERSONAL VIEW

Poppies in Kosovo, gerbera daisies in Basra

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

This time the gerbera daisies will evoke memories for me. Lasttime it was poppies—deep blood red poppies ( BMJ 1999;318: 1707[Free Full Text]). Back then, in May 1999, the poppies lit the Macedonianfields outside the refugee camps—camps full of KosovarAlbanians fleeing ethnic cleansing. A splash of colour, incongruous amidst the misery of people who had lost everything. The daisies—pastel shades, covered in dust, struggling to survive without water—symbolise for me that there is hope amidst neglect.

I found them in a corner of the palace garden. The palace ismagnificent: huge, high ceilinged rooms, miles of corridor,marble floors, and surrounded by a high wall and protectedby acres of landscape that deny the outside. Opulence and grossextravagance on a scale you could not imagine, reflecting greatwealth and self importance. Strange that the man for whom thepalace was built liked the same flowers as I . . . [Full text of this article]

Celia Duff, deputy regional director of public health

East of England Regional Public Health Group celia.duff@dial.pipex.com